Pro S. Roscio Amerino

INTEODTJCTION. 13
tells Tis in tds Brutus, " so great a reputation, tliat there
was no case wliich was considered beyond my powers as a
pleader." In liis later years he looked back with a kind
of mingled triumph and affection to this product of his
generous and vigorous youth. " Amid what shouts of
applause," he says in his Orator (a work composed thirtyfour
years after the Pro Boscio), "did I, while quite a
youth, deliver those words ou the punishment of parricides;
long afterwards I still felt that tlie fire of those words was
by no means cool." He then quotes the highly wrought
passage in Ch. XXVI., lines 11-17, with this criticism
" All those expressions bear the stamp of youth,— youth
that
ripe
is commended for hopeful promise rather than for
performance." He adds " : even that youthful
exuberance is tempered with much that is subdued, and
with some passages that are even somewhat genial."
This criticism of his own early defects is a just one.
The style of the speech is in many places florid and redundant,
and the periods are not marked by that rounded
fulness, or the transitions by that ease and naturalness
which are characteristic of his riper work. There is also
at times a striving after rhetorical eifect which results in
many peculiarities of expression not found in later
But these and other blemishes sink into insignificauce
when we consider the speech as a whole. Not only does
it abound with really splendid passages, but the geueral
impression made upon the reader is one of dignified independence
and high moral tone. The youthful orator
was thoroughly convinced that his cause was a righteous
one, and this conviction lends a liveliness and elevation to
the entire speech. The manly courage with which he
confronted the powers of evil arrayed against him commands
our admiration ; it is only equalled by the
moderation of the speaker, and the marvellous skill
with which he avoided giving offence to the all-powerful
Dictator.
§ 7. Criminal Jurisdiction at Rome. The ludicia Populi.
In the earhest period of Roman history both civil and